MONDAY, MARCH 22, 2021

COMING TOGETHER
New Water Coalition Launched to Invest in Conservation Efforts for the Upper Trinity River

A group of industry, nonprofit, and governmental organizations—including Texan by Nature, Molson Coors, Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay and PepsiCo, and Keurig Dr Pepper—have formed the Texas Water Action Collaborative to improve the water quantity and quality of the Trinity River.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Alexa, Let’s Chat: UT Dallas Is Part of a $500K Global Competition To Teach Amazon’s AI How To Make Small Talk

By creating conversational AI, Alexa could potentially help people who are suffering from anxiety and depression due to loneliness and provide greater accessibility for those who use assistive tech and language translation.

Anyone can try out one of the nine teams' socialbots now by telling Amazon's AI, “Alexa, let’s chat.”

COMING TO TOWN
Leading CX Design Company Expands to Dallas

Tallwave is an Arizona-based company that provides a series of customer experience (CX) solutions to businesses that want to strengthen their connection with customers. It's not to be confused with user experience (UX) design, though—dive into the difference, and see why Tallwave sees the CX movement accelerating post-pandemic.

⓵ STARTUP SPACE: Fast-growing Dottid, a commercial real estate tech firm that was recently featured in Business Insider’s list of the 31 hottest PropTech companies, is moving its HQ to Preston Center. The Dallas-based startup, which doubled its team in the pandemic, is now doubling its space with a 5,500-square-foot lease. Founded in 2016 by Kyle Waldrep (above), the firm uses tech to streamline deals and alleviate problems property owners face. Waldrep has seen a surge in business with the rise of e-commerce and logistics, launching a first-of-its-type industrial market-focused tool earlier this year.

⓷ OPENING SOON: Fabletics, an innovative active-lifestyle brand that was co-founded by actress and style icon Kate Hudson in 2013, is coming to Tarrant County this year, per Fort Worth Culturemap. The store joins some 50 U.S. stores, including one at Legacy West in DFW. The brand, known for high style at an accessible price point and interactive experiences, plans to grow to 74 locations by the end of the year. The celeb-founded retailer recently launched an at-home fitness app that has workouts, meditations, and incentives for meeting fitness challenges such as apparel discounts to incorporate the shopping experience.

"The beauty of this initiative is the alliance of communities and the unity of working toward the common good."

Anurag Jain
Co-Founder
Get Shift Done
…on the one-year anniversary of the nonprofit Get Shift Done, an initiative that was created in four days in response to COVID-19. The program, which was launched in March 2020 to pay a living wage to newly unemployed hospitality workers to fill the gap of volunteer shifts in hunger relief organizations, has expanded across the country.

“Two groups of people needed one another: the displaced workers and those who manage the food banks and pantries,” says Jain, who is also Chairman of AccessHealthcare.

“‘How will I feed people?’ was my immediate concern,” says the tech investor and entrepreneur. Jain was serving as Board Chairman of the North Texas Food Bank at the time.

The ramp-up period was rapid, beginning with a phone call with Patrick Brandt, president and co-founder of Shiftsmart. Together with co-founder Brandt, the duo devised the plan using Shiftsmart’s technology.

“From Anurag’s phone call on Sunday afternoon to the first shift on Thursday, we were in a full sprint for four days,” says Brandt, who calls that week “unforgettable.”

Within days, other cities were contacting the new nonprofit requesting assistance. Since then, it’s been a year of milestones and firsts with 28,000 workers in 12 regions and 110 non-profit agencies on the roster. That adds up to almost one million shifts, 60 million meals served, and nearly $15 million in wages for the workers.

Get Shift Done recently ranked No. 1 in the Not-for-Profit category in Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2021. It was also named No. 28 in the publication’s World’s Top 50 Most Innovative Companies list.